Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks Lose 4-Star Chris Johnson, Add JuCo Transfer Justin Cross; How Does it Affect KU?

Episode Date: June 5, 2023

4-star combo guard Chris Johnson asked out of his National Letter of Intent with the Kansas Jayhawks, leaving KU with 10 scholarship players. Bill Self also added a walk-on from the Junior College ranks in Justin Cross from John A Logan College. What to expect from the addition, what's next for the offseason, and how it affects KU and Self's plans for the Summer.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to TWO THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS in Bonus Bets when you go FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I'm Derek Johnson on today's Locked on Jayhawks. We're going to be discussing some of the latest roster news for KU basketball. Seemed like the roster is set at 11 and then boom, all of a sudden, Chris Johnson is getting out of his, or at least he's asking to be out of, I can't imagine why KU wouldn't let him out of his national letter of intent. And they added a walk-on in Justin Cross. We'll discuss both moves, what it means for KU moving forward on this episode of the show. You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks, part of the Locked

On Podcast Network, your team every day. Eric Johnson, you can hear me as well, Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m. on KLWN in Lawrence with Rock Chalk Sports Talk. Thanks for making Locked on Jayhawks your first listen every day. We are free and available wherever you get any of your podcasts. You can find us anywhere for the audio side. You can also like and subscribe to us on our YouTube page. And on today's edition of the show

we're going to be going over chris johnson we're going to be going over the new ku player justin cross and what it all means for the program and where they kind of go from here as far as the roster because i literally our last show was seemed like ku was done and content with having 11 scholarship players i think they are going to continue to be content with having 11 scholarship players, but that means they still have to add one more now to get back to the 11th scholarship player. So we'll discuss all that on today's show. First, though, this episode of Locked on Jayhawks is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. The official sportsbook of Locked on.

Make every moment more. Visit fanduel.com slash locked on to get today to get started. So starting things off, let's start with the chris johnson news chris johnson who is a four-star recruit for the team asking out of his national letter of intent obviously i would imagine ku is going to be comfortable uh i don't know maybe they already have like given the the release for that one it's just kind of bad pr when you don't release a kid in general. Two, I think there's enough there that from KU's perspective,

it's, you know, Chris Johnson might've had a hard time finding immediate minutes for the team. And maybe there were some other things that KU can be comfortable kind of moving on. Now there were some, some talk on,

on social media and stuff. I think I saw something from Andrew Slater, who we've brought up many times on this podcast, who's very well connected in the recruiting world, talking about as soon as KU landed Arterio Morris, that this kind of became a done deal. That once they added another kind of combo guard that would be hypothetically playing the minutes

that Chris Johnson might be vying for, this was going to happen. And that this was kind of a, and this is me kind of adding this part of it uh kind of a long drawn out process by him to basically be like well um you know i'm not happy with the way that you treated this roster and stuff and screwing me over so um i am going to kind of have a little bit of a i don't know dog and pony show with this like i'm just not going to show up i'm going to at the last minute ask out of my national letter of

intent even though that's been in the plan for several weeks um to kind of like stick it to you so we'll see where he ends up going and you wish him the best moving forward um he was a four-star combo guard six foot four he was somebody who uh ended up i don't know he was he was around like the top 40 ish on the rankings coming into his senior year of school and uh went to montverde academy which, which is one of the best consistent high school prep programs, whatever you want to call it, in the country. Constantly produce high-level players. I believe Andrew Wiggins went to Montverde.

I don't know. Maybe that's wrong. And so he ended up having a tough year. I think he came off the bench. Now, to say, oh, you came off the bench in high school, why are you going to camp? Well, Montverde has all D1 players on their team. So off the bench now, you know, to say, Oh, you came off the bench in high school. Why are you going to can't well Montverde has like all the one players on their team. So it's not like, you know, but maybe struggled a bit adjusting in the specific role he was asked to do. I think there was on and off court difficulties, maybe with the coaching staff

and somebody who had been known as being kind of a spitfire, which can be a good or bad thing. And to be clear, I think Bill self likes the type of players that are willing to, that get angry when you lose, that will yell back at you when you yell at them, because he'd rather reel you in than he would try to get you to work up. But I think there's enough there that maybe you're a little bit worried if you're KU about, yeah, you know, what's going to happen here if Chris Johnson isn't playing the role that he thinks he should have or that he wants to have, and he's not getting any playing time. We've talked a lot about the rotation. There is not a lot of minutes to go around for like,

maybe Chris Johnson and Jamari McDowell. And are you going to be comfortable in that role where you might not play a ton as a freshman and you got to work into more minutes for maybe your future years and you don't want to have a locker room headache there. And I'm not saying that would have been the case with Chris Johnson, but if this shows anything about the theatrics of how this went down with the leaving, maybe this is best for both parties. Again, I think Chris Johnson can have

a really good collegiate career wherever he goes, but maybe this is best for both parties. You can now use this scholarship on somebody else. And because of the tough year at Montverde, I think he's now ranked 51st on the 24-7 composite. But if you just look at the 24-7 sports rankings, so forget the composite that puts everything together into a blender, just the 24-7 sports rankings, he is ranked 72nd now in the country, which is a pretty sizable drop based on what happened that season. So I think, like I said, in the end, it probably works out. Chris Johnson might not have been a guy who, I mean, think about it. It's not just

that it would have been tough for him to get on the court this year, but DeJuan Harris could be back the following season. Arterio Morris could be back the following season. Marco Jackson could be back the following season. Like it's hard to even find the first two years of playing time for him. So makes sense from KU's perspective um i don't necessarily think that the coaching staff and bill stealth like wanted this to happen i don't think they want to i think they were almost ready to turn the page and start recruiting the next year's class you know get out to some of these whatever au events and get ready for the next years and the year after that's class and now they do have to kind of dig themselves back into the transfer

portal and try to find or you know maybe they're i don't know if there is somebody the high school level um that they can bring on to the team to kind of get up that 11 scholarship i don't think that's something they wanted to do but it could work out in the end if ku was able to get somebody who maybe could make a impact uh on the team more in year one and if chris johnson wasn't going to get playing time in the first couple years he might have just transferred out anyway so maybe you just kind of get ahead of this and for chris johnson he gets to go somewhere where maybe he can get that immediate playing time right away and uh get to a closer point i would imagine he's someone who has nba aspirations and can get to uh kind of that point from there so uh from ku's perspective um you know this doesn't change the

rotation or anything like that but it does leave you with another open scholarship and uh now you have 10 scholarship players theoretically if you really wanted to you could just knock out all three of your self-imposed scholarship productions in one year and then have a full roster the next two years i don't think there would be any point in doing that like i sort of understand the idea to okay well if we have 11 scholarship players we knock out two of the scholarships that way one year we can have 12 one year we can have 13 but that's because i don't i don't think there's a big difference between having 12 scholarship players or having 13 scholarship players right like if your rotation

is going to be seven eight guys and then you need maybe like two spares two good backups that you can have in case of injury or foul trouble behind that to make you feel like you have a good 10 like i don't know and then maybe a developmental player like 12 to 13 isn't that big of a deal so i i don't think it matters that much if you have to have in a future season 12 and because some of the questions we've talked about with depth like kevin mcculler has had injuries in the past um chris johnson could have been somebody who benefited if there was an injury to one of the guards. We saw DeJuan Harris get nicked up a couple times last year against Oklahoma State and against West Virginia, right?

You need to add somebody else to bring in depth, I think, on the team. If it is a player who can crack into the rotation, that's great. I think there are some avenues you could still find minutes and make that work. I still look at Grant Nelson. I don't know what the likelihood of that happening or possibility of that happening. I'm still look at Grant Nelson. I don't know what the likelihood of that happening or possibility of that happening.

I'm recording this on Sunday. Who knows? Maybe he'll be committed to someone else by the time this, this goes up on Monday. But I think it makes sense. You need somebody to come in, at least be a body and be a developmental player, because in theory,

if you trade out somebody who's a developmental player for Chris Johnson, who probably wasn't going to play a ton this year, then that can be fine. But I think this does serve as your best opportunity to just add that player who could give you more coverage in case of injury and still be a possible impact player like a Grant Nelson or some of these other transfers that are out there. All right,

let's talk more about one of KU's newest additions. That is Justin Cross. He's a walk-on joining the program from the JUCO level. Good pickup for KU. We'll discuss next. First, though, this episode of Locked on Jayhawks is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. Make a fast break to FanDuel during the NBA playoffs because right now, new customers can get a no-sweat first bet up to $2,500.

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You get paid instantly. There's no better place to bet on all the playoff action than America's number one sports book. Visit FanDuel.com slash locked on and get a no sweat first bet up to $2,500. That's FanDuel.com slash locked on FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Okay. Who is Justin Cross? This is somebody that literally just showed up and ku basketball they were they were sending out like you know pictures and videos of the different

players showing up to their rooms and checking in at ku and stuff and all of a sudden they were like uh here is uh we're introducing justin cross and everybody was like oh who is this kid? So it turns out he is going to be walking on to the basketball program. And he was part of a junior college national championship team a season ago. He was at John A. Logan College. And you might look at the stats and be like, ah, it's, you know, 2.8 points, 4.4 rebounds. Like, you know, it's, it's doesn't jump off the page. He played in all 35 games for the team that won the national title. If you don't

watch much Juco basketball, there are a lot of times, a lot of Jucos will literally commit to, because, you know, part of what they're trying to do is get these kids to colleges. They will play 10, 12 men, deep rotations where it's like, they're literally sending in platoon swaps. They're literally sending in, you know, as many players they can play to try to give them college opportunities. Um, but again, it's a walk on. So, you know, you're not talking about somebody who's going to be projected to be a starter or something like that. Um, but he's a good rebounder, obviously 4.4 rebounds per game in four and a half minutes per game. Uh, so if you give him 30 minutes per game, he will get Wilt Chamberlain and pass him and get 30 rebounds per game.

That is what that is telling me. But no, you're talking about somebody who realistically, you know, not going to be part of the rotation as a Juco walk on. Now, you know, I guess you never know. We saw players, whether it was like, I don't know, Justin Wesley or something, eventually cracked the rotation because it was thin. So you never know we we saw players whether it was like uh i don't know justin wesley or something eventually cracked the rotation because it was thin so you never do know and it does seem like he is a good enough rebounder there um 65 career games played in two years at john a logan college he's 6 9 215 pounds i think what this is mostly about is you needed somebody else to bang bodies in practice right and so for justin Justin Cross, I hate putting a limit on something

where I'm like, oh, he's never going to be a part of the rotation. In an ideal world, he probably won't be part of the rotation. He's being brought on as a walk-on. You have Hunter Dickinson, you have KJ Adams, you have Parker Brown, right?

But you never want to put a limit on something and who knows where that could go. At the very least, though, you needed somebody to come in and be a good practice big man be somebody that gives your opposition good looks right and so you look at the ku group of walk-ons right now michael jankovich he's a shooting wing charlie mccarthy he's a small guard uh wilder evers he's a small guard as well and then dillian wilhite who he is more of your you know big man he's like six eight

six foot nine and and so you need big men to be especially if you're going to be playing kj on the wing in practice you need probably four big men over the course of practice to rotate in and out of stuff to practice against each other and now you have that you have hunter dickinson you have parker brown you have um justin cross and you have dylan willhite to at least get you through practices because kj even if he's going to play five in the games imagine most practices they're going to be playing him at the wing because they're trying to progress him in that specific spot so it fits that role it doesn't you know fill up one of the scholarships it

um is something that that works out nicely for ku because you know you do get to retain a open scholarship to use up one of the ones that you have to reduce in future years and yeah I mean you know in an absolute pinch in an absolute emergency let's say like I don't know Parker Brown gets sick Hunter Dickinson gets in foul trouble you're playing KJ at the four Can you throw Justin Cross in there for three, four minutes of a game? And can he just, you know, keep things moving forward? Can you just not mess up in a serious way? Well, it seems kind of like that's the case, but more likely than not, this is just going to be somebody who's going to help the team get better in practice each and every day, which you absolutely need.

And you absolutely need those guys for reps throughout the practice season, especially if other guys are hurt and you need that depth of big men. So this kind of fits perfectly for what KU was looking for as far as another walk-on to join the roster, which they now, as I mentioned, have five walk-ons on the roster. I don't know if there's an actual NCAA limit of walk-ons you could have. I guess hypothetically, could you just be like, well, we'll have 20 walk-ons if they want to. And I know there's only a certain amount that can sit on the bench, and I think that might be able to travel with you.

And obviously, there are logistical issues there, but that would be kind of funny if a team eventually was just like, yeah, we have 20 walk-ons. We have five scholarship players. What are you going to do about it? All right, well, let's finish up here with Locked on Jayhawks. What this all means for KU. So what this all means for KU.

Let's start with the Justin Cross thing. I guess another emergency big man, but again, if he's playing rotation minutes, probably something went wrong there, whether it's an injury or whatever. Again, I don't like to limit the ceilings of players. Who knows? Maybe Justin Cross, all he needed for his development to become a great basketball player was come to Kansas and get great coaching or something. I don't know. Um, but realistically, you know, it's, it's probably some bad stuff happened. If he ends up being a part of the rotation, realistically, he's going to help you in practice. He's going to help, uh, you know, iron sharpens iron. He's going to help Hunter Dickinson, uh, have tried to have an all American type season. He's going to help, you know, Parker

Brown and KJ Adams and whoever else try to hone their skills a little bit in practice and give them good looks up and down the court and make Kansas a better team in the practice level. As far as Johnson, you're not talking about somebody who is probably going to have much playing time this year, barring injury anyway. We looked at the rotation, and you have DeJuan Harris,

Artaria Morris, Elmarco Jackson, Nick Timberlake. You have Kevin McCuller, KJ Adams. You have Hunter Dickinson. There's your seven guys. rotation and you have dewan harris arterio morris el marco jackson nick timberlake you have kevin mcculler kj adams you have hunter dickinson there's your seven guys then if it gets an eighth guy marcus adams maybe if you go parker brown a little bit four or five there's your ninth guy it's it's tough for chris johnson to find those minutes and so in theory you're not really having to replace anything from like a projected rotation standpoint or a tech uh protected you know lineup point of view but now you're even more thin for backups which is scary in case of injury dewan harris had a couple injuries this year powered through him kevin mcculler had a couple

injuries this year i think one of them he missed a game was it i think the texas southern game he missed and then missed a big 12 tournament game he uh battled through a couple injuries this year i think one of them he missed a game was it i think the texas southern game he missed and then missed a big 12 tournament game he uh battled through a couple injuries too over the course of the season and he's missed i think he missed something like 20 games over his three years at texas tech right he's had injury kind of problems every year of his collegiate career you want to have coverage in case of injury over the course of a long haul um and i guess you know with chris johnson you now can try to replace that with another another developmental player who might not be a part of the rotation but just gives you a little bit of extra coverage or you can take advantage of this opportunity and say that yeah why not go out there and get a grant nelson or

an arthur kaluma or one of these top level transfers who there still is a way you can make this work minute wise like you might be thinking if you bring in grant nelson how does that work with kj you could still start kj at the four and play him 25 minutes per game you could play hunter dickinson 30 minutes per game at the five and or i guess i should phrase it this way you have 80 minutes to give out at the four and five positions 80 minutes right 30 for hunter 25 for kj 25 for grant nelson boom you have 50 minutes given up there and then you know maybe if you want to play marcus adams some you can shave off anybody maybe you can play him a little bit three whatever um the point is you can make this stuff work and i think this is a good opportunity to bring in a possible impact rotation player that would help give you coverage

in case of injury but also strengthen would help give you coverage in case of injury but also strengthen your team make you a little bit deeper which i think would be even more important but at the very least you do need a scholarship player now that's the biggest thing that this leads to we'll see which direction ku goes if they do want to go for the impact guy or if they do you know there are other variables at note there there's variables about is it too late to get in on some of these kids after you thought you were going to be done recruiting um have you used up most of your nil money to bring back kevin mcculler and bring in hunter dickinson and some of these players that you already have in tow where you're not going to be able to compete with some of the other schools

from that standpoint right like there are other questions here that i don't know the answer to maybe they go after somebody who is more of a developmental player but either way it does put them in a spot where they do have to now keep recruiting the transfer portal or, you know, freshman class or something for this year to try to bring at least one more player in. Again, I, it felt like they were done recruiting with 11 scholarship players. So I'd imagine when they get that X player and get back up to 11 scholarship players, they will once again be done at that point in time. Um, i definitely think from a future perspective again it's not you know overly worrying either with chris johnson because like i said you could

potentially have all of your combo guard types back for next season too right i mean if el marco jackson ends up being a backup and playing 18 20 minutes per game it might be a little bit harder to be a one and done behind arteria morse so, it was going to be tough for him to maybe ever hit the court. And, uh, from that standpoint, I don't think it changes much in the future either. I will say though, regardless of what you decide to add, um, whether it's, you know, developmental player, impact player, the one position I look at and say, probably don't need to add there is like point guard slash combo guard you do have coverage there you have dewan harris you have arterio morris el marco jackson all three of those guys can play

point guard at a high enough level for you um you could you could probably add a guard who is more of a guard wing type that you could play at the two or the three and then you could probably add someone who could play like the four for like. Like Grant Nelson. I talked about how the minutes could make sense there. If you add, I know, you know, there's a, what's the name?

The guy from Kentucky, who's really good shooter. He's like a six foot four, six foot five shooting guard. You could play him at the two or the three. If he decides to transfer and, you know, decides to come to KU now with that upset,

like Nick Timberlake is, I don't know. But I think when I look at it whatever player you add point guard's probably the one where it makes the the least sense and you could add a if you're just wanting to add an emergency player you could add a center and be like okay well now we have Parker Brown and he can even play some four for us and then that would slide maybe Marcus Adams to maybe playing some more three minutes that it gives you a little bit more coverage in case of like a Kevin injury on the wing but I think to me the one that makes the most sense is like a Grant Nelson because a he's really good b he fits in positions that you could still make minutes for and I think it

would give you coverage in case of either a McCuller or Dickinson injury where you'd still have a really good player but we'll get more into later this week, maybe who makes the most sense for KU to bring in now that Chris Johnson is gone. So be sticking around for that later in the week here with Locked on Jayhawks. That'll do it for today's episode of the show. You can find us wherever you get any of your podcasts. You can subscribe and like the show on YouTube.

Have a good rest of your day, and we'll talk to you next time.